The present invention relates to an isolated axle mounting system, and specifically to an isolated axle mounting system suitable for use on off-highway vehicles.
Typical beam axle mounting systems utilize some combination of coils springs, or leaf springs, shock absorbers, and torsion bars to isolate the passenger from bumps in the road and dampen oscillations between the frame and axle systems. Some xe2x80x9coff-highwayxe2x80x9d type vehicle applications, however, do not require traditional springs and shock absorbers and the frame is instead rigidly mounted to the axle. These vehicles include construction, agriculture, forestry, underground mining, material handling, and outdoor leisure and utility vehicle, specialty vehicles and other applications. The axle in some off-highway applications may include flotation type tires to absorb some shock. However, vibrations are not dampened as in traditional systems due to the rigid coupling of the axle to the frame and causing the vehicles tend to be noisy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,620 relates to railway vehicles and in particular to suspensions for such vehicles and provides an elastic element between an adaptor and a load-bearing structure. A single adaptors is located outboard of each rail wheel and is mounted on the wheel bearings. The adaptor is fastened to the frame with a fastener, requiring modification of the frame to include apertures for receiving the fastener. The elastic elements appear to be supported only by horizontal flanges of the adaptors and the side frames are supported on the elastic elements. The elastic element is provided as a sandwich of alternate layers of metal plates and rubber forming an elongated block. This device and mounting configuration are, however, not directed to the load demands of off-highway vehicles. Further and among other things, the elastic element includes sandwiched layers requiring an elastic to metal interface that increases manufacturing complexity and cost and may be susceptible to separation in other load applications.
The inventor of the present invention has recognized the need for a device for mounting an axle and frame that will be suitable for use in a wide variety of off-highway vehicles having a wide variety of axle and frame configurations.
The present invention provides an isolated axle mount for mounting an axle to a frame of a vehicle. In this embodiment, the axle mount includes a first member rigidly coupled to the frame, a second member rigidly coupled to the axle, and a third member supported by the first and second side walls of the second member. An elastic element such as a bushing is disposed about the third member and is coupled to the first member. At least one axle mount is coupled to the fore side of the axle and at least one axle mount is coupled to the aft side of the axle for supporting a frame above the axle. The elastic nature of the coupling between the axle and frame of the present invention dampens vibrations and lessens overall vehicle noise. Further the first member, second member and third member can be utilized in a variety of applications and require little or no modification to account for the size and shape of the axle and frame being mounted together. The elastic element can be readily modified for varying load carrying requirements.
Other aspects of the present invention are provided with reference to the figures and detailed description of embodiments provided herein.